New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Aadhaar law, which will empower the Centre to mandate that every Indian citizen procures the 12-digit unique identity number for accessing government services and benefits.
It could, however, take at least a month or two for the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act-2016 to come into force.
The Aadhaar Act has been notified, paving the way for statutory backing of the unique identity number being used to transfer subsidies and welfare benefits to eligible persons.
An official with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) told HT that the law would be implemented only after rules listing out the details of the enrolment process were issued, and key functionaries appointed. “Otherwise, we will have to stop issuing Aadhaar numbers... That would be a waste of time,” he said.
The UIDAI has already issued over 99.6 crore Aadhaar numbers, and is set to cross the one-billion mark by early April.
The law, passed by Parliament as a money bill amid opposition from Congress and Left parties, is acrucial part of the government's plans to increase efficacy of welfare transfers by reducing fraud and duplication.
The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 will provide for a means to transfer expenditure from the consolidated fund for benefits like provision of cooking gas, scholarships, rural job guarantee wages, priority sector lending, Jan Dhan accounts, ration card, passport, voter identity issuance and opening of bank accounts.
The privacy arguments are still to be heard by a constitution bench of the Supreme Court. But as UID's lack of statutory status was one of the concerns raised, the Centre hopes the law will bolster its case as will specific measures to ensure that UID is used only for verification and not for building a mega databank.
According to the Act, individuals to whom an Aadhaar number has not been assigned, "shall be offered alternative and viable means of identification for delivery of the subsidy".
